Mary Catherine Weaver

SS1 SOC 2024 Deviant Behavior

Quiz 1
Due Midnight 06/01/14
Instructions: Type your name at the top. Answer each question. Turn this back in as an attachment in
the quiz section. Do not pay much attention to style. You will be graded based solely on the answer you
provide. You may use only your book or powerpoint from the week unless stated otherwise in a
question.
Time Limit: 45 Minutes
1) What are the deviant ABCs? Describe each of the ABCs. Give an example of each of the ABCs
that is not given in the textbook or taken from the supplemental materials on the course
website (You may use the internet if you are stuck with the last part but please provide the link
where you got your answer).
The deviant ABCs are Attitude, Behavior, and Conditions. An example of a deviant attitude, which
according to the textbook is any unpopular, unconventional beliefs that may or may not manifest
themselves in overt actions, could be a persons belief that cigarette smoking is acceptable in every
social situation. Some people may disagree with that attitude towards smoking. Deviant behavior could
be an action associated with that attitude, such as smoking around a childs play structure, or in close
proximity to a pregnant woman, or anyone who might not want to be a victim of second-hand use. That
behavior is likely to attract hostility towards the person exhibiting that behavior. A deviant condition is
a physical characteristic that makes someone a target of hostility, like skin color, mental defect, physical
disability, etc. An example of this could be sporting hot pink hair in a formal workplace, when the pink
hair might not be the most appropriate hair color for the job.

2) How is deviance different from crime? How are they the same? Give an example of deviance
that is not a crime.
Deviance can be any attitude, behavior, or condition that someone else disagrees with, and the term is
non-pejorative. Crime differs from deviance by not only violating social norms but by violating the law.
Not all deviance is criminal, but it is possible to say that all crime is deviant, at least for the period of
time that the activity is labeled criminal. It was once illegal to drink alcohol, and to drink alcohol during
Prohibition could be labeled deviant, but now it is not unless you are not of legal drinking age. Deviance
that is not criminal could be thinking that a black man is not as capable as a white man at performing
the same tasks based on his skin color and not mental capacity. Personal prejudices arent illegal, but
having them does violate modern day social norms.

3) Pick any two positivist theories from the readings and explain how the two are different from
each other. For each theory give an example of deviance that it would explain.
Mary Catherine Weaver
The two positivist theories I will choose are Strain Theory and Differential Association Theory. Strain
Theory somewhat suggests that pressures force one to conform to deviant behavior. The stress of a
situation might force someone to act in such a way that he or she would not normally act. A
potential example could be a single mother being forced to become a prostitute to bring home
enough money to feed her child. Differential Association Theory suggests that this behavior is
learned, and may be applied to the same situation if the child grew up seeing her mother as a
prostitute and learned the deviant behavior from her mother, becoming a prostitute as well.